The Flying Fish

Yes, I'm still alive! Here's a video of my adventures so far...

The 26th of January marks one year since I started working as an instructor. I remember the day well. On the evening of the 25th of January, I was offered an ab initio student. Having had no success finding a job for the last year, I accepted; ad the next day (co-incidentally, my 21st birthday), I met with my victim. Ah, I mean, student. He taught me more than he realises, and I consider myself lucky to have had such a passionate and studious individual as my first student. It definitely helped make the job a little less stressful. I am proud to say he passed his PPL Skills Test later in 2013. And only tried to kill me twice. Since then, I have had 3 other students go solo, with one nearing the end of his PPL training. Suffice to say I have considerably more grey hairs and stress-lines than your average 22-year-old. However, being able to teach someone and actually have them understand what you're saying is worth it. And having a student teach me something is a remarkably ...

2013 has been filled with scares, thrills, and many laughs and great opportunities. Obtaining my first flying job, and realising that people weren’t joking when they said that an instructor’s students are out to kill them. Learning the art of teaching, learning when to intervene, and when it is safe to allow a student to continue and make a mistake. I’ve been fortunate enough see sun rises and sunsets from the air, and soar with the birds (and in some cases, take drastic action to avoid hitting some of the birds). I’ve said good bye to friends, and seen people grow and move on. I’ve met people from all over the world, and made new friends. I’ve learnt to love the Cessna 172, something I never thought I’d find myself saying (I mean, come on, it’s a tri-gear aircraft). I’ve flown in formation with RV’s, and T28’s Trojans; Bosbok’s and Cessna 152’s; I’ve experienced formation aerobatics from the front seat of the highly capable MX-2; and I’ve seen the majestic Boeing Stearman n...

Here's a short video of some of the flying I've been fortunate enough to do in the last 8 months or so... This is why I haven't been updating my blog as much as I should :-/ Enjoy!

On Saturday 18 February, I finally did my Grade III Flight Instructor Test. And passed! Months and months of hard work, trying to cram in studying, writing a newsletter, and re-doing a website, have finally paid off. Now let's hope the CAA gives me my papers!